Chapter 10 - THE BIRTHDAY PARTY TRAP
Lily turned five beneath a ceiling filled with pink balloons.
She had no idea fifteen armed men were hidden around the property.
No idea every guest had been screened twice.
No idea her father carried a gun beneath his jacket.
To Lily, it was simply her birthday.
Claire insisted the party continue.
“If we cancel, Anthony knows we’re afraid.”
Vincent stared at her.
“We are afraid.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you smiling?”
Claire looked toward Lily.
“Because she shouldn’t have to be.”
Vincent felt something inside him break open.
This was the woman he had called predictable.
The woman standing inside a potential trap with perfect calm because her daughter deserved cake.
He had not become bored with Claire.
He had stopped looking closely enough to see her.
Evan Mercer arrived carrying a huge wrapped box.
Vincent’s expression immediately hardened.
Claire noticed.
“Behave.”
“I am behaving.”
“You look homicidal.”
“That’s my neutral face.”
Evan approached.
“Happy birthday.”
Lily ran toward him.
“Mr. Evan!”
Vincent’s eyebrow twitched.
Evan handed Claire flowers.
“For surviving your first week.”
Vincent looked at the bouquet.
Then at Evan.
Then at Claire.
She whispered:
“Not now.”
He muttered:
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You radiated it.”
Despite the danger, she smiled.
Vincent smiled too.
Then a waiter approached Marco.
Whispered something.
Marco’s face changed.
“We have a breach.”
Vincent immediately moved toward Lily.
Claire’s pulse jumped.
“Where?”
“Service entrance.”
Security cameras showed a catering van.
The driver had credentials.
But the passenger was Anthony Russo.
Vincent’s expression turned lethal.
“Lock the property.”
“No,” Claire said.
He looked at her.
“What?”
“If you lock it, he knows we spotted him.”
“Claire—”
“He wants me.”
“Yes.”
“Then give him what he wants.”
Vincent’s voice dropped.
“Absolutely not.”
She stepped closer.
“We need him alive.”
“I need you alive.”
The words landed between them.
Claire’s face softened for half a second.
Then hardened again.
“Trust me.”
Vincent stared.
Five years of marriage.
Ten years of love.
And perhaps this was the first time she had asked him that directly.
He nodded.
Claire walked toward the service corridor alone.
Anthony appeared near the kitchen.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Calm.
“Claire.”
“Anthony.”
“You look like your father.”
“So everyone keeps telling me.”
He smiled.
“Henry was difficult.”
“So am I.”
“I know.”
He glanced behind her.
“Vincent agreed to this?”
“No.”
Anthony laughed.
“Then he hasn’t changed.”
“He has.”
That answer surprised even Claire.
Anthony’s smile vanished.
“You have the trust codes?”
“Yes.”
“Give them to me.”
“First tell me why you destroyed my marriage.”
Anthony’s eyes sharpened.
“I didn’t destroy anything.”
“You drugged my husband.”
“I showed him what was already there.”
Claire shook her head.
“No. You made emptiness louder until he mistook it for truth.”
Anthony’s face hardened.
Then he whispered:
“Your father said something similar.”
Claire’s pulse jumped.
“You killed him.”
Anthony smiled.
“No.”
Silence.
Claire stared.
“My father died of a heart attack.”
“Yes.”
“Did you cause it?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Anthony leaned closer.
“Henry Bennett isn’t dead.”
Claire forgot how to breathe.
“What?”
“Your father staged his death.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“He knew I was coming.”
Anthony pulled out his phone.
A photograph appeared.
An older man walking through an airport two months earlier.
Claire recognized him instantly.
Her father.
Alive.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Where is he?”
Anthony smiled.
“Ask your ex-husband.”
Claire’s face changed.
“What?”
Anthony glanced behind her.
Vincent stood at the end of the corridor.
And for the first time, Claire saw fear in his eyes.
She whispered:
“You knew?”
Vincent said nothing.
That silence broke something all over again.
May you like
Anthony smiled.
“He knew your father was alive before he asked you for a divorce.”
